Travelling with a bicycle can seem like a mighty undertaking, but once you’ve cracked it, the whole world opens up and you can ride your bike wherever you like! In this second post about flying with your bicycle, we’ll look at three methods of packing your bicycle ready for loading onto a plane.
You may have heard stories of people just turning up at an airport and wheeling their bike straight into the oversized department (More Adventure leader Dave Talbot once simply wrapped his in a few bin bags when returning from a tour to Spain!), but this is now not possible with the majority of airlines. In addition to this, if you want your bike to make it to your destination in one piece, ensuring it’s packaged properly is absolutely essential.
Many airlines accept a bicycle as checked-in luggage, provided it is packaged properly. In our previous article, we looked at the associated costs with doing so with a number of airlines, so you can be sure not to be stung for additional charges when you check in.
There’s endless information on the internet about how best to pack your bicycle and we’ve scourged through a great deal of it. Luckily, the brilliant team at Global Cycle Network have published three excellent videos on how to pack your bicycle properly.
So, whether you’re using a hard plastic box, a bag, or a cardboard box, by following their instructions, you can be safe in the knowledge that:
a) the airline will accept your bike
b) you’ve done as much as possible to protect your bicycle in transit
Check out the following videos and if you’ve got any extra questions, please get in touch! Alternatively, we can provide door-to-door pickup/delivery of your bicycle and main piece of luggage on a number of our European cycling trips – please let us know if you’d like to find out more.
Packing your bicycle in a bike box
Packing your bicycle in a bike bag
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